Babies for Nikki

by Lynnette Bernard

  Beckett’s Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 2

  Babies for Nikki

  Nikki Sinclair doesn’t take crap from anybody—especially men. Her own failed marriage proved that men would only use her. It doesn’t matter that she longs for a man to love her, hold her, protect her, and want children with her. It just isn’t meant to be.

  Alexander Gregg and Butler Roman, enforcers for Beckett’s pack, are stoic, often brutally serious wolf shifters that no pack member or outside challenger ever crosses. Their lives hold no tenderness, no softness, and no mate to complete their triad.

  The Fates have gifted them with Nikki. She brings laughter and tenderness into their lives. And hell no! She is not afraid of them!

  They need her to be safe and understand that sometimes giving up control does not mean weakness. All they have to do is convince her to put aside her stubbornness and accept them as her mates and the fathers of her babies.

  Note: This book contains double vaginal penetration.

  Genre: Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves

  Length: 127,349 words

  BABIES FOR NIKKI

  Beckett’s Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 2

  Lynnette Bernard

  MENAGE AMOUR

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Ménage Amour

  BABIES FOR NIKKI

  Copyright © 2012 by Lynnette Bernard

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62241-365-2

  First E-book Publication: September 2012

  Cover design by Jinger Heaston

  All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Babies for Nikki by Lynnette Bernard from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

  Regarding E-book Piracy

  This book is copyrighted intellectual property. No other individual or group has resale rights, auction rights, membership rights, sharing rights, or any kind of rights to sell or to give away a copy of this book.

  The author and the publisher work very hard to bring our paying readers high-quality reading entertainment.

  This is Lynnette Bernard’s livelihood. It’s fair and simple. Please respect Ms. Bernard’s right to earn a living from her work.

  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

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  DEDICATION

  This book is dedicated to a woman who taught her children to work hard, always do their best, and above all else, be kind. My mother continually shows all of her children that family is the most important thing in this life. She sacrificed for all of us and supported our decisions. My sisters, brothers, and I are the people we are because of her.

  Her excitement about the publication of my books is amazing. Thankfully, she is the complete opposite of Nikki’s mother. I count my blessings that she is part of my life.

  This one is for you, Mom. I love you.

  BABIES FOR NIKKI

  Beckett’s Wolf Pack, Triad Mates 2

  LYNNETTE BERNARD

  Copyright © 2012

  Chapter 1

  “Damn it!”

  Pack enforcer Alexander Gregg’s massive fist connected with the wall of the detention cabin with a resounding crash. His fellow pack enforcer Butler Roman stood behind him, waiting for his friend and triad partner to calm himself. He felt the same frustration. Each day was getting more and more difficult to stay in control and remain focused on their jobs. Since Alpha Jace Beckett and Beta Jackson Scott had found their triad third in Laurie Young, the unmated triad pairs of the pack had been having increasingly difficult days and tortuous nights.

  Doc Barrett had told them that their leaders’ triad mating had triggered an actual physical need in the other triad partners of the pack to find their fated mates. But Alexander’s need had started long before the rest. Butler could feel his best friend’s hold on his emotions slipping. For the past few months, Alexander’s ability to keep his anger under control had proven more difficult with each day. Both he and Alex were usually stoic, often brutally serious men that no pack member or outside challenger ever crossed.

  Butler watched the shoulders of his triad mate rise and fall with each growl that escaped him. Stepping forward after a moment, he rested his hand on Alex’s shoulder and leaned against the wall to face his friend. Alex’s face was contorted in pain, and Butler knew real fear as he saw that it wasn’t only anger but also deep sorrow that consumed his partner. When Alex looked up at him with raw pain in his eyes, his heart physically hurt, and deep worry filled his own eyes.

  “Alex,” Butler whispered. “It’s going to be fine.”

  “No, Butler,” Alex growled, unable to keep the anguish from his voice. “It’s not going to be fine. I can’t do my job protecting our pack anymore. We can’t risk the safety of our Alpha Triad because I’m losing control of myself. You know that.”

  Butler nodded and leaned forward, waiting until Alex raised his head and met his gaze. “I know,” he whispered more to himself than to his triad partner. “I feel the same loss of control. But we have to fight through this. The Fates will send us our mate when it’s meant to happen. We can’t rush this, Alex.”

  Alex reached up and squeezed his triad partner’s shoulder. He knew Butler struggled as he did, but Butler had always been better able to control his emotions. It was his strength and calm reasoning that allowed them both to be the best enforcers of their pack.

  Alex nodded his understanding, but he didn’t think he would be able to last much longer without finding the third of their triad. He needed her. Butler needed her. And they needed her now.

  “I think we should talk to Doc about giving us some kind of a sedative and have him take us off active duty,” Alex told Butler quietly. “We can’t risk our packmates.”

  Butler’s ringing cell phone interrupted the intensity of the moment. Butler pulled it from the case on his belt. He looked at the display, conn
ected the incoming call, and placed the phone against his ear in one fluid movement.

  “Yes, Alpha,” he spoke calmly.

  Alex watched him silently, struggling to take deep, even breaths to calm his erratic heartbeat. He had a job to do. He would not let the pack down. He could do this.

  “Yes, Alpha. We’ll be right there,” Butler said calmly, looking to Alexander to see if his friend had calmed sufficiently to be able to complete the job their alpha had just assigned them.

  Butler disconnected the call and hooked the phone onto his belt, watching Alex silently. Alex stood tall and rubbed his hands across his face, making an obvious effort to calm himself.

  “What does Jace need?” Alex asked finally, his emotions barely under control.

  “He needs us to take Laurie and Julia to the mall,” Butler told him, smiling. “Just what you need, buddy. A shopping trip.”

  Alex looked at his friend and growled. Butler was entirely too happy about the assignment.

  “Shut up,” he told his wiseass partner.

  “What?” Butler asked innocently.

  * * * *

  Nikki Sinclair sat on the floor of her closet, her arms wrapped around her knees to draw them tighter against her chest. The tears fell unheeded as great heart-wrenching sobs escaped her. Leaning against the wall of the small enclosure, she rubbed her face against the stack of soft blankets that she had placed there.

  A deep ache in her throbbed with need. She needed to be touched. She needed to be held. She needed to be loved. Unfortunately, she knew she would never cave in to her need. She couldn’t search out someone to touch her and hold her. Her life had taught her that no man would ever take the time to really know and love her. She had found out the hard way that she was just a means to an end.

  Only her best friend Laurie and Laurie’s two children Mia and Dean had ever truly loved her, and she adored them. She would do anything for them and had often protected them against Laurie’s abusive ex-husband. She cherished her relationship with them and loved that she was Mia and Dean’s adopted aunt. They treated her as if she were their second mother. And that fact was the root of her pain.

  She knew she would never have children of her own to love. It had been drummed into her head since she had been a teenager by her parents that she was not good enough to have children, and her ex-husband had made it very clear to her nearly every day of their marriage that he had felt the same way.

  He had taken great care to ensure that there would be no babies. The house that they had purchased had been big enough to accommodate a large family. Her ex had blatantly disregarded her desire for children, and she had soon come to accept that she was not meant to have babies. The fact that Nikki had provided the money for the purchase thanks to the money her grandfather had left her in a trust fund was also conveniently ignored.

  Her ex had told her that she would be a terrible mother, and she had been conditioned to believe him over the years. It was only when they had divorced and he had insisted that he receive the house in the divorce settlement, as well as a good chunk of her savings, that she realized that their marriage had been a sham. It had been based on his need of her money to support him while he finished college and then provide him with a comfortable lifestyle, including the house and the car he wanted. He had also walked away with an extraordinary amount of her money that ended up being a sizeable cushion for his future.

  It had been a hard lesson learned, but she had learned it well. Nikki sniffled indelicately and rubbed at her eyes angrily to push aside her tears.

  Thank goodness for her grandfather. He had made sure she would never have to worry about taking care of herself financially. He had been a very wise man who had made sure that most of the money he had set aside for his only grandchild was untouchable by any spouse. His shrewd business sense had protected her so that she had complete control of the trust fund he had set up for her. Her Gramps had insisted that any man who might ask Nikki to marry her would sign an ironclad pre-nuptial agreement or the wedding would not take place.

  Nikki had plenty of money to live comfortably and without worry. What her ex didn’t know, and she had no reason to enlighten him, was that the bulk of her trust would be turned over to her on her thirty-fifth birthday. And that was right around the corner.

  She didn’t need to work to support herself, able to live very comfortably off the interest of the trust fund for the rest of her life. The money she had to hand over to her ex-husband barely made a dent in the portfolio that her grandfather had put together for her.

  Losing the house to her ex hadn’t hurt her as much as she thought it would have. The house really left her with more bad memories than good, and she was secretly glad she would never be reminded of what was never meant to be whenever she saw the empty bedrooms that would never be filled with children.

  She knew realistically that her money had been the reason she had been used, but over the years her mother’s constant badgering that she was not marriage material had lodged deep in her heart. She fought with herself daily to keep her spirits up. It was hard, though, when she was constantly reminded that there was something wrong with her.

  She laughed despite her depression. Here she was sitting inside her dark closet, leaning against soft blankets so she would feel surrounded by gentleness. Of course there was something wrong with her! It was called loneliness.

  Growing up, her mother had constantly reminded her that she was nothing until she had a boyfriend, and then a husband. Nikki remembered the hateful words that had been spoken to her when her mother saw any man come to pick her up for a date. She had been told to thank her lucky stars that someone actually wanted to go out with her.

  It wasn’t that Nikki was not a nice looking woman. She was beautiful in fact. Her silky, black hair was styled in layers that brushed her shoulders, and her blue eyes were so light they were striking. Having slightly almond shaped eyes and a heart shaped face added to her unique beauty. Laurie had often told her that she was stunning, but she knew her best friend was her biggest supporter and told her what she needed to hear. Bless her heart.

  Standing five feet seven inches tall, she always felt so much bigger than the rest of her peers. Truthfully, it was her figure and not her height that made her feel that way. While other girls had been slim with cute figures, Nikki’s figure was considered lush, with full curves and breasts. She was also athletic in school and was more muscular than most women. She hated the way that made people treat her. While other girls had doors held open for them and were offered help carrying items, Nikki was treated as one of the guys. She remembered one particular instance when a customer at a retail store she had been working at told her to grab one end of a couch he was purchasing to help him lift it onto his truck. She ended up helping him, and had felt like a moose while doing it. She was embarrassed beyond tears.

  What upset her more than anything else was the fact that none of the other employees or customers thought there was anything wrong with the man’s request. She may have been strong, but she was still a woman. A woman that others didn’t think to treat with any kind of respect or tenderness.

  No one saw her as a woman. They saw her as a friend, a hard worker, a strong person, the person who helped everyone, and the person who made everyone laugh—but not a woman.

  Most days, that treatment was okay. She worked, she helped, and she led her life without complaint. But sometimes the loneliness got to be too much. Her desire to be loved and touched sometimes overwhelmed her to such a degree that she had to hide away in her closet, cuddled against the soft blankets that were a poor substitute for the comforting embrace that she longed for. When her loneliness was too bad, she retreated into the small space to cocoon herself away, cry for a while, and give in to the total despair that engulfed her.

  She always bounced back, put on a smile, and headed back out into the real world. But it was becoming increasingly difficult to live a life where she was so isolated from the love that everyone around
her took for granted. How much more could she take? To be honest with herself, she knew she couldn’t take it much longer. Her sense of humor that entertained everyone else was becoming more and more difficult to maintain. She was just so tired of it all.

  Nikki tucked herself against the stack of blankets, hiccupping slightly as her tears started to abate. She closed her eyes and tried to take even breaths to calm herself. She only had two hours before she had to get to the hospital. She was working a double shift tonight, and she had to pull herself together. Her coworkers expected her to be an efficient and competent nurse as well as their source of encouragement and humor. She was usually able to be their entertainment and their cheerleader, but it was growing old. She couldn’t do it for much longer.

  Tears slowed, her breathing evened out, and a deep sadness consumed her. Closing her eyes, she pulled deeper inside herself, hugging her arms around her waist as she pushed herself back against the closet wall. She knew she had only a few more minutes to allow herself the luxury of giving in to her despair. She had to get ready for work. Once again, life would go on.

  * * * *

  “Hey, Laurie!” Nikki answered her cell phone when she saw her best friend’s name and number come up on the screen. “How are you?”

  Laurie’s laughter greeted her. “I’m good, Nikki. How are you?”

  “Same old, same old,” Nikki answered, not wanting to bring Laurie’s obvious good mood to a screeching halt with anything negative.